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Category: Books I love to read and other posts

Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I have written on this blog. I have been doing a lot over on Goodreads and Facebook, promoting my newest novel, Phoenix, a Young Adult novel. While I’m on the subject, here is a little plug for that book.

Synopsis: Penny Ashmore is a not-so-normal seventeen-year-old, who just wants to finish high school, go off to college, and fall in love. However, that plan goes out the window when her dad takes a job as the caretaker of a magical estate. After moving to Westridge, a town owned by a dragon and run by the fairy queen, Penny meets Dorian and Sebastian, who happen to be cousins. Both of them fall for her, but she only has eyes for one. However, when Penny’s own physical state begins to change, secrets come out about her past. She is informed by the fairy queen that she is actually a Dragon Princess and was created for one purpose: to stop evil creatures called the Heartless, and their puppet, the Destroyer. Penny wrestles to keep her own identity, but in the end, she knows that it’s no use fighting the inevitable. She will take her place as the Dragon Princess and lead the battle against the Heartless and the Destroyer, hoping she will be able to save the creatures of Westridge, and the boy she has come to love.

But my daughter reminded me that there are people who read this blog, that don’t visit Goodreads or Facebook.

What I have been doing on Facebook and Goodreads, besides reviewing lots of books, is highlighting other authors. Each day of the week has a theme: Blogger Bites Sunday, Scifi Monday, Dystopian Tuesday, Whatever Wednesday, Thriller Thursday, Fantasy Friday, and Christian Fiction Saturday.

Today was “Thriller Thursday” and I have a new author for you to check out. Kathryn Pincus has written a book called, Long Hill Home.

Synopsis: Kelly Malloy is a wife, a mother and a successful lawyer whose world is shattered when she is brutally attacked while running along the banks of the Brandywine River. Chad McCloskey, a lonely teenage boy from a dysfunctional home, stumbles upon Kelly Malloy’s unconscious body immediately after the assault, and he is falsely accused of the crime after he tries to help her. Maria Hernandez, a young woman who emigrated illegally from Mexico, is reluctantly thrust into the role of witness to the crime, putting her in jeopardy of deportation only weeks before she is to give birth to her child.

Kelly, Chad and Maria all suffer tremendous adversity in the wake of the crime, and they ultimately discover that their lives and their fate are inextricably and permanently connected. Long Hill Home is a story of crime, mystery and the legal process—but it is also a story about the human condition, and how, regardless of vast differences in background or circumstances, all people strive for the same things—love, security and a fulfilling life. You can check out Kathryn’s book on Amazon. Also, head over to her page and give it a Like, so that you can keep up with what she may be writing in the future.

If you write thrillers or mysteries or any of the above mentioned “themes” and you are interested in being highlighted on my Fb page, then give me a shout. You can leave a message here, or on my Fb page.https://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-…

I hope everyone it having a great day. Blessings.

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Before I begin my interview, I would like to talk a little about Patty Wiseman. I have had the privilege of meeting some wonderful people who are authors over the past year and a half and one of those people is Patty Wiseman. I met Patty on Goodreads and we chatted. Later, I had a book signing in Longview, Texas and much to my surprise Patty came to my signing. We hit it off right away. She is a pleasure to be around and likes to talk as much as I do. She interviewed me on her blog about my book and I told myself that when Patty became an author, I would interview her. It’s a little late coming, because Patty became a published author in August, and I do have to apologize to her. lol.

Welcome, Patty. So glad I finally get to interview you. Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Let me say a great big “Thank you” Karen for having me here today! I am very fortunate to call you ‘friend’, literally! I remember the time I met you and your wonderful family at that little coffee shop where you were having a book signing. We have become good friends!

A little about me? I grew up in Washington State, attended college in Bartlesville, Okla. My husband, Ron, and I have been married for almost nineteen years. Together, we have two grown sons, a step-daughter and a passel of wonderful grandchildren. I have worked as an administrative assistant to a financial adviser for the past twenty-four years and will retire in January 2012, finally! I am looking forward to devoting my time to what I love…writing.

I have many interests and hobbies, including gardening, reading, genealogy, bowling, and traveling. Writing is number one with me, though.

How did you get started writing and what inspires you to write?

Reading was a big passion of mine as a child. The thicker and more involved the book, the more I liked it. So writing was a natural next step for me. I enjoyed doing the essays in school, and I remember one project I had to do in literature class for poetry. The teacher gave us a list of poetry styles and we had to write an original poem for each style. I still have that notebook of poetry. Maybe I should take a second look at that! LOL!

My inspiration has been the stories I grew up hearing about my grandfather. He was killed when my dad was only ten months old, so dad never knew him. He searched for him while he was alive but never found out anything because my grandmother erased all evidence of him. A few years ago, I began the search myself and found a wealth of information on this forgotten man. My favorite books were historical romance when I was growing up, so the interest in my own family history wasn’t much of a leap.

Who is your favorite character and tell us why?

My book, An Unlikely Arrangement is based on my grandparents arranged marriage in the 1920’s. My favorite character is based on him, Peter Kirby. I prefer to think of my grandfather as a good man. He died much too young and was forgotten, quickly. I fashioned this story as a tribute to him.

Did you have any authors that inspired you and what kind of books do you like to read for pleasure?

I really have to say my favorite author is Diana Gabaldon. I love her Outlander Series. She weaves so many things into her books. History, genealogy, time travel, romance, all of it. I love reading things like Gone With The Wind, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, you know, the classics. I love a good mystery, too. Cozy armchair mysteries and who dunnits, but give me a good historical romance any day.

What is your favorite time of day to write? Do you need quiet or music when you write?

Early morning is the best time for me. My husband leaves for work at 5:30 a.m. I love to get up in the quiet part of the morning and let my imagination run, fresh and free. I think it depends on what I am writing as to whether I need music or quiet. If I am writing a lively scene, music helps, but if the piece is a bit more serious, I prefer the quiet.

Are you writing anymore books?

I’m tickled you asked that question. I am actually hosting a contest to help me choose a title for the sequel of An Unlikely Arrangement. I had so many people ask me when the sequel was coming out that I had to write it! I am loving this story even more than the first. I hope everyone will go to my website www.pattywiseman and check out the details of the contest. It is running until January 15th.

I am also working on a different sort of novel, a contemporary romance based on another real life experience. It’s called ‘If It’s Thursday Night, My Name Must Be Lola’. This will be a comical look at a single woman’s survival skills.

I know the New Year is around the corner, do you have any book signings coming up?

I have been so busy with book signings and festivals that the Christmas break is a nice time to catch up on writing my two books. Come January, I will hit the ground running. I have a book signing scheduled in Marshall, Texas on Jan. 20th, and a grand opening TBD. I am scheduled for various festivals throughout the year and will post those on my website as they come up. I have spent a lot of time doing research on some new ideas. Hopefully, January will be the start of an exciting year! Stay tuned to my website for further details!

Patty it was such a pleasure to have you on my blog. You are a very talented lady and I highly recommend to all of my readers to go out and buy a copy of An Unlikely Arrangement. You will not be sorry.

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Lately, I have been on a Inkheart kick. I love the Inkheart books! Cornelia Funke has such a wonderful imagination. I recently have read, Inkheart, Inkspell, and now I’m reading Inkdeath. In Inkheart, Mo reads three characters out of the Inkheart book, while his wife Resa is read into the book by mistake. The three characters, Basta, Capricorn, and Dustfinger find themselves standing in Mo’s living room. Basta and Capricorn are the bad guys. Dustfinger is a fire-eater and entertainer in the Inkheart book. Basta and Capricorn leave Mo’s house and go into our world. Capricorn gathers a great many of followers and starts doing a lot of bad things. One of the bad things was, rounding up all of the Inkheart books and destroying them, so that Mo can’t read anymore characters out or into the books. Capricorn promises Dustfinger that he would be able to go back into the book if he would bring Mo and Meggie to him. Capricorn wants treasure and he needs Mo to read it out of books for him. Mo has retreated to the safety of his aunt’s house when Dustfinger finds him and tricks him. Capricorn’s men come and take Mo, Meggie, Mo’s aunt Elinor and Mo’s copy of Inkheart to Capricorn’s village. Capricorn had found another man that could read characters and items out of books, but Darius wasn’t as good as Mo. All of his characters had something wrong with them when they came out. Capricorn threatens to kill Meggie if Mo didn’t read for him. He also tells Dustfinger that he can’t go back into the book and burns all the other Inkheart books, save one. Mo reads part of a story. Treasure and a boy named Farid come out of the story. Dustfinger helps Mo, Meggie, Farid and Elinor escape. They go and find the writer of the book Inkheart, Fenoglio, to see if he has anymore Inkheart books. Mo needs to read Resa his wife out of the book and Dustfinger wants to go home. In the end they all end up back at Capricorn’s village and many things happen. Several of the things that happen is Fenoglio gets read into his own story, they find Resa and Capricorn dies. However, if I told you the end, you wouldn’t want to read it.

In Inkdeath, Dustfinger finds a new character, Orpheus to read him back into the Inkheart book. Farid is so upset that Dustfinger didn’t take him, that he gets Meggie to read them both into the Inkheart book, where they are reunited with Fenoglio and Dustfinger. The Inkworld has taken on a life of its own and has started making up tales and characters as it goes along. Fenoglio hasn’t helped this situation. He has been busy writing tales about the Bluejay, a robber whom he modeled after Mo. Fenoglio has Meggie read a story that he wrote, so that he can try to right the wrong that the story was taking. In the end that becomes a disaster. Mo and Resa are read into the book by Orpheus who has a silver tongue just like Mo, along with Basta and Mortola the Magpie. Mortola has a rude awakening when they enter the Inkworld and find that her son Capricorn is dead there as well. (She thought he would only die in the other world.) Mortola shoots Mo, leaving him for dead in the Wayless Woods. I won’t go into any more details, because that would ruin the story. The book is really long and full of wonderful descriptions of the Inkworld. Sometimes a little too long, but they work. I tend to skim, especially since this is my second time reading all of the books. I highly recommend all three of the books. Also, Cornelia Funke has written other books as well: Dragonrider, The Thief Lord, and a ghost series that is really good. So check her out sometime. It will be worth the reading.

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I usually read the books that my children are interested in just to make sure that they don’t have content I wouldn’t want them to read. The trouble I have with reading is that I can’t stop at just the first book (if it is a series). These are some of my favorites: Children books- Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull, Charlie Bone series by Jenny Nimmo, Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer, City of Ember books by Jeanne Duprau. Adult books- any Janette Oke books (I love pioneer books), Beverly Lewis-(all of her Amish books), My Bible (Troy just bought me a new study Bible KJV, it’s beautiful), and also anything written by Jane Austin.

September 4, 2010

I wanted to update this post. I have been reading more books this summer. Children’s books–The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley. Adult books–Murder She Wrote series by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain. My all time favorite author would have to be Mary Higgins Clark. I have always had a deep affection for murder mysteries. The very first book I wrote was a murder mystery. (It is still sitting on the shelf.) It has a lot of problems, but also a lot of potential. Maybe someday I can rewrite it and have it published.

Dec. 6, 2010

Like most women in the United States, I read the Twilight Saga, by Stephanie Meyer. I know, I’m an idiot. They were really sappy. I’m usually not a romance reader. In fact, almost never. I started reading them to see what all the hooplah was about. When I started reading, I had to finish, because that is how I am. When I got done, I asked myself why I wasted precious moments of my life reading them.

Well, I’m now reading Stephanie Meyer’s newest novel called, The Host. Again, I am asking myself why I’m reading it. It is taking forever to get into. I will finish it, though. (Again, this is how I am. I have to finish what I start.) I’m only a few chapters in. Maybe, it will get better. Everyone keeps assuring me that it will. Of course these are the same people that told me how wonderful the Twilight books were. UGH! Wish me luck.